Text Size

-

+

reset

Pelosi: Republicans ‘not professional’

By voting less with House Democrats than any other member of the 50-member Democratic freshmen class, according to a survey of all 436 House votes this year. On a recent bill to delay for one year the employer and individual mandates outlined in Obamacare — Pelosi and President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment — Maffei crossed the aisle and voted with Republicans.

Maffei wasn’t the only freshman Democrat to defy Pelosi on the health care votes. Fourteen Democratic freshmen joined with dozens of their veteran Democratic colleagues and Republicans in calling for a one-year delay in both the employer and individual mandates. These defections came despite repeated — and sometimes emotional — lobbying by Pelosi, who accused these Democrats of “undermining” her and Obamacare, said several lawmakers and aides.

Maffei, a former House staffer, is unrepentant. “What my constituents tell me and what best helps the community I represent is how I decide to vote,” Maffei said in a statement to POLITICO. “The people of Central New York have made it clear to me that the most important issues are growing our middle class, spurring our local economy, and creating more jobs across the region.”

Other junior Democrats, many in tough-to-hold swing seats, are also opposing party leaders on a number of key votes. A POLITICO analysis found a group of eight to 10 Democratic frosh going their own way on key issues, with or without the blessing of leadership.

Their actions show these Democrats are following the oldest rule in politics — make sure you get reelected first, and worry about party politics second.

Pelosi needs to pick up 17 seats in the 2014 midterms get her back in the speaker’s chair. However, there is no indication that House Democrats will be able to do that, at least not based on recent polls, the makeup of House districts potentially in play next year, and the history of the “six-year itch” for incumbent presidents. Current projections have Democrats picking up several seats to losing as many as seven of them. An internal DCCC analysis has Democrats suffering double-digit losses if Obama’s popularity keeps sliding and the economy falters.

All of which could lead freshmen Democrats — and some of their more experienced colleagues — to pay more attention to their own political future than leadership wants. Pelosi may or may not be minority leader in the next Congress, but if these Democrats want to keep their own seats, they better tread carefully.

“They’re saying, ‘I need to come back in 2014, so I better watch my own ass,’” a senior House Democrat said about the frosh defectors.

Publicly, Pelosi downplays any talk of friction with her newest members, and she has worked hard to address their fears that Obamacare — or the president’s slumping poll numbers — will hurt them in the midterm elections.

Pelosi and other party leaders, including DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.), have warned their freshmen that the worst mistake they can make is being inconsistent in their votes, flip-flopping from an earlier position. In freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy’s (D-Fla.) case, for instance, the National Republican Congressional Committee hammered him for being a “hyprocrite” by voting for the Obamacare mandate delays but opposing ouright repeal.

But Pelosi and other top Democrats have been clearly frustrated with the way some of their members have voted this year. On the House floor, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) openly berated members who backed the GOP bill to delay the Obamacare mandates, according to several members. Pelosi was upset as well, but she kept her complaints to private meetings, these sources said.

“She was really angry,” said a top Democratic aide. “I haven’t seen her that mad in awhile.”

Freshman Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) broke ranks with his leadership to support Republicans on both mandate delays and the Homeland Security appropriations bill.

“I always put the people of my district above partisanship and I put solutions above ideology and I serve them and that’s why I’m here,” Ruiz said.